Professional photographers hate taking pictures of their own family, especially on holiday. Just when you think you've got some time off, your wife thinks it's a perfect moment to take some pictures on the beach or at the end of term ballet session.

Or - even worse - you're asked to take a group shot of relatives you haven't seen since last time you took a group shot of them (and you never printed those either).

People in my business are hounded into bringing the camera everywhere we go and - what's worse - using it! It wouldn't be so bad if our own kids went along with the plan and stood still while we get the performance over and done with. But they never do.

When you are out on assignment the person you've gone to photograph usually plays along, even if they say they hate having their photograph taken. Funny how everybody says this, I've often wondered what they hate about it?

But your own kids are so bored with having been treated as little starlets since they were born, photographed at every turn, that they can't be bothered any more. I've lost count of the number of great pictures I've lost when I've got everything right in the camera and the little so-and-so has run off to be with her mates. I would never take such abuse while out on a job for the paper.

Years later, your kids accuse you of not loving them any more because you didn't take that cute little picture of them in their pink tutu in the Year 1 ballet performance, whereas Emma's grandma took it and has it on her mantlepiece... "But I did, it's just that it's blurred and of the back of your head, you were running away, I didn't bother to print it..."

Assuming that you don't take photographs for a living, and therefore still enjoy taking pictures of your kids, here's a few tips so that you never end up in this awful place of being the world's worst family recorder.

No matter what camera you own, even a camera phone, there are two basic rules:

1. Make sure the background is as plain and clear as you can get it. You don't want a tree coming out of Aunt Maud's head (an axe maybe, but that's another story). You want people to look at the family members in your picture and not to be distracted by the background.

2. Get in much closer than you think. So much film and disc space is wasted on tiny figures or groups shot from too far away. Frighten yourself a little and move in close. Try getting up on a chair or wall and looking down at the group. Your pictures will look a lot stronger.

Most digital and phone cameras have fairly wide lenses. Don't just grab the camera and photograph something that excites you. Frame it in the camera first, then press the shutter!

So many people seem afraid to move in close, but they are your family so they won't mind and your photographs will be so much better, even if you cut off the odd arm or leg. It doesn't matter; there are no rules in photography. All you have to do is trust yourself... and here's betting you'll find you can take some great photographs.

· Eamonn McCabe's The Making Of Great Photographs is published by David and Charles (£25)

Make a summer scrapbook

One of the most precious things about a holiday, is the chance to embark on a family project. My favourite is one we started a couple of years ago: a family scrapbook. It began on a wet day in a cottage in Devon: we had a chat about how to fill the afternoon, and decided to make a record of the fortnight. The idea is that everyone contributes something to the book to give a flavour of the holiday, and be a reminder in years to come of what we'd done.

Our scrapbooks usually start with an introduction to our family: Elinor, 12, did the portraits last year. She drew each person and listed their name, age, and ambition (or job, for the adults).

Thereafter the book is open to suggestions: we usually have a page describing where we are. There might be a section on a day out: in our Devon book, Rosie describes a six-mile walk; Miranda, who is seven, writes about a sleepover she had with friends.

My husband loves holidays for the chance to read: his contribution was to chart our holiday reading: where else would a review of Underworld by Don DeLillo sit alongside a verdict on Goldilocks and the Three Bears?